‘Conservative justices? Yeah, in what way?’ Key senator on a supreme court in thrall to special interests

Sheldon Whitehouse, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee: ‘Frankly, I think the recent Alabama decision would have gone the other way had it not been for the blowback on Dobbs.’ Photograph: Shutterstock

The conservative-dominated US supreme court may be undergoing a “course correction” after witnessing a public backlash to its extremist rulings and ethics scandals, Sheldon Whitehouse, chairman of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on the federal courts, has told the Guardian.

America’s highest court has made a series of radical decisions, including in the Dobbs case that overturned the constitutional right to abortion one year ago on Saturday, while two rightwing justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have been exposed for failing disclose luxury gifts from billionaires.